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FARMERS 8 REGISTER. 



[No. 12 



The first proposition of the Es^ay refers chiefly 

 to the hypothesis that, "soils naturally poor, can- 

 not be permanently enriched;" and, "that the la- 

 bors of man have been but of little avail in alter- 

 ing the characters and qualities given to soils by 

 nature." 



In as far as this view extends, I heartily assent 

 to the opinion of the essayist, and upon the 

 ground which I, for some time, have assumed — 

 that, "soils, be their nature what it may, tpnd to 

 reduce manuring substances to earths of their 

 own precise quality;" and, in accordance wilh 

 this doctrine, I hold it highly probable that the ul- 

 timate end of manuring is to support and maintain 

 the quality and bulk of ihe staple soil. 



Earth may be gorged with manure, but it is not 

 thereby enriched. Plants may be rendered richly 

 luxuriant in a gorged soil, but their health and vi- 

 gor are not thereby increased. A medium state 

 of soil, wherein it contains a proper quantity of 

 enriching decomposable matters, is most favora- 

 ble to healthy and robust vegetation; and in it 

 those matters soon disappear, and nothing but 

 earth remains after a few crops have exerted their 

 energies upon the soil. Any one who has wit- 

 nessed the effects of sand upon a very liberal sup- 

 ply of manure, after a crop has been taken, will 

 not be at a loss to determine what the terms "bar- 

 ren" and "hungry" mean, when applied to land. 

 Strong loams, on the contrary, hold the manures 

 unchanged r or a considerable time when not crop- 

 ped, and retain the active principle more tena- 

 ciously by far than light sands, even when severe- 

 ly cropped. Now it is certain that, every correct 

 analysis has proved the convertibility of farm-yard 

 manures into, not only the elements of vegetables, 

 but also into the three staple earths themselves: if 

 then, a hungry sand, after a liberal system of 

 manuring tor years, still return to its original state 

 of poverty, what must have become of the alum en, 

 the carbonate of lime, and the oxide of iron, 

 which the manuring substances were capable of 

 yielding under certain conditions, to say nothing 

 of the oxygen, the hydrogen, the carbon, and the 

 azote, all of which gaseous products may be pre- 

 sumed to have been taken up by vegetable, vital 

 action. 



Every fact that I am aware of, seems to prove 

 — first, that vegetable action tends to decompose 

 manuring substances within ihe soil: secondly, 

 that these substances are either wholly consumed, 

 ordeposite a residuum which is precisely similarin 

 character to that of the natural earth, leaving it, 

 whether it be sandy, clayey, or loamy, neither more 

 nor less rich than it was in its original constitution. 

 If this view of the results of manuring be correct, 



er to acquire and fix fertility. But in the course of 

 reaching that end, the lime is supposed, by combining 

 wilh vegetable acid, to cease to be the carbonate, and 

 is no longer detected in that form. This soil which 

 Mr. Towers scarcely considers calcareous — or as con- 

 taining "merely a hint of carbonate of time," is in fact 

 better supplied with that ingredient than almost any 

 natural soil in our Atlantic States — not even excepting 

 our limestone soils. Indeed, the only soils more cal- 

 careous, are the few and very limited spots on which 

 shtlls have been deposited. — En, Farm. Reg. 



then Mr. Ruffin's first proposition is so far, to all 

 inlenis and purposes, established. 



The second proposition of the Essay unfortu- 

 nately refers almost exclusively to the soils of Vir- 

 ginia, but one point of it, which is of great, inter- 

 est, is contained in the following lines — "The 

 abundance of putrescent vegetable matter might 

 well be considered the cause of fertility, by one 

 who judged only from lands long under cultiva- 

 tion." — "Vegetable matter abounds in all rich 

 land, it is admitted; but it has also been furnished 

 by nature, in quantities exceeding all computation, 

 to the most barren soils we own." The author 

 then proceeds to state that, calcareouB earth — by 

 which term he always intends to express chalk, 

 i. e. carbonate of lime — is "the cause of fertility, 

 and the cure for barrenness." 



The arguments are well sustained throughout 

 the remaining part of the Essay, and prove the 

 value and importance of chemical knowledge: 

 they are, however, far too extensive to permit of 

 being minutely investigated, and, indeed, may 

 not be generally applicable to the soils of Eng- 

 land. However, it would be highly desirable that 

 particular attention be given to the facts adduced, 

 in all districts where peat mosses exist, or have 

 been recently reclaimed, for therein vegetable re- 

 mains abound; and though these substances con- 

 tain the elements of calcareous earth, they also 

 are replete with those of vegetable acids, inas- 

 much as they are chiefly composed of oxygen, hy- 

 drogen and carbon — the bases of all such acids. 

 The presence of acids need not therefore be ques- 

 tioned, though they may not be traceable as such, 

 being taken up and neutralized by the chalk, or 

 alkalescent matters with which they come in con- 

 tact as soon as they are produced. 



The sterility of pure peaty soils, and their inca- 

 pability of improvement by manuring substances, 

 tend much to strengthen the second proposition, as 

 does the (act, that paring and burning are found 

 experimentally to be meliorating processes of 

 great efficiency; and why? simply, because the 

 agency of fire decomposes the vegetable matters, 

 destroys the acidifying elements, or, to speak 

 more corectly, disperses them in the form of gases, 

 or aqueous vapor, liberates and fixes the carbonate 

 of lime, and a portion of free carbon, and perhaps, 

 (generally,) a little carbonate of potassa also. 

 Here, then, we perceive another proof of the im- 

 portance of chemical science, for nothing else 

 could ascertain the results of the combustion of 

 the peat, or refer them to their proper causes. 



Mr. Ruffin's observations prove the correctness 

 and accuracy of his analysis and conclusions. All 

 wood ashes, as I have proved by reiterated experi- 

 ments, and asserted, do contain carbonate of lime, 

 and some other neutral and alkaline salts; but 

 whether these saline compounds have been fur- 

 nished "by the soil on which the plants grew," as 

 he supposes, is to me a matter of some doubt. 

 The roofs are the media which connect the plant 

 with the earth, and ihe leaves expose it to the in- 

 fluence of light and air: of these facts there can 

 be no doubt; but several experiments with the sap 

 of a bleeding vine, have led me to hesitate on the 

 subject of the components of that fluid. I have 

 not been able, as yet, to detect the presence of 

 carbonic acid in it, but future experiments may 

 furnish more decisive evidence than any which 

 have, as yet, come under my observation; still, 



